


Played by Fate

by 1tskillingm3



Series: Tangled in Fate [4]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, Aromantic Character, Asexual Character, Attempted Assault, Bad Parent/Child Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Multiple Soulmates, Neglect, So much angst, Some Offensive Language, Soulmate AU, band of misfits become family, kinda the reverse of Iwaizumi, name on skin identifying soulmate, non binary character, one-sided Semi/Ushijima, social issues of soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-11
Updated: 2016-06-11
Packaged: 2018-07-14 11:01:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7168391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1tskillingm3/pseuds/1tskillingm3
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>‘Low Maintenance’ That’s the word people liked to use when it came to Semi. Everyone said it like it was a good thing, but Semi knew that no one actually thought that. Knew that they looked at him with eyes of disgust as they saw all of the over lapping names that Semi wore on his skin. <br/>But he couldn’t help that. <br/>Couldn’t help that he genuinely didn’t require all that much from a person. That so long as they weren’t a royal piece of shit he could put up with just about anyone. Sadly, next to no one can put up with him in return.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Played by Fate

**Author's Note:**

> Are you ready for intense angsting? Because that’s what this one is. 
> 
> Okay, you guys have no idea how excited I’ve been to start posting chapters for this story, but I made myself promise that I’d wait until I was done with Make Your Own Fate. Semi has a special place in my heart that I would have never expected and is certainly not proportional to the amount of time he’s in the manga.   
> (Also I’ve noticed that these stories could be alternately called the “setter soulmate series” since they’re all from the perspective of setters… this was not on purpose)
> 
> Also, I write Tendou with they/them pronouns, just heads up.

Semi was freaking out; He couldn’t find his high collared school jacket and he was going to be late for school at this rate.

This was not a problem for most people, and certainly wouldn’t be excepted as an excuse for a tardy slip given that they were a few months into school and summer was in full swing. Semi himself hated being hot, but he would wear a jacket anyway.

Being sweaty was a small price to pay for decency. Or at least that’s what he’d been told by his parents, teachers, and sneering peers.

At last he found his jacket hidden under the mess of his bedding. Semi breathed a slow sound of relief and quickly slid his name-riddled arms into the sleeves. The simple barrier between him and the rest of the world instantly made Semi feel calmer. Quickly tugging on his gloves and zipping his jacket up under his chin Semi grabbed his bag and ran out the door.

Semi hated running to school, especially in summer, because he would get really hot and dizzy but he wouldn’t be able to take off his jacket and then he’d feel stinky and gross the rest of the day. But the alternative was showing off the fact that there were crisscrossing soulmarks up and down his arms, hands, and neck. They were actually all over his chest, back, and legs as well but those marks were a lot easier to hide. He didn’t want to see people’s expressions when they noticed: the quick double take, the confusion, the morbid fascination, and finally the disgust. People were not often quiet about what they thought of him. He already had to face that at school, he didn’t want to on the street as well.

Most people only got one soulmark. Some people apparently never got any soulmark, but it was so rare that most thought it a myth. It was uncommon but not terribly strange to get two soulmarks. Although even people with two marks often had to constantly reassure whoever their partner was that they weren’t cheating. Even more rarely, there’d be people with what were known as “circular” marks; otherwise known as a series of seemingly mismatched pairs that formed a circle of people of various sizes, usually indicative of a polyamourous relationship.

Semi had only every heard of people like him, people with almost uncountable amount of soulmarks, in risqué books and sometimes pornography’s.

It was a lingering bit of prejudice from older generations, which had seen a soulmark as a sign that you belonged by divine arrangement to that person in body and soul. It was a narrative that was shifting slowly with modernization and the insistence that there was no scientific suggestions or religious scripture that stated that was anything close to being true, but rather a traditional interpretation. There were even movements among the youth for proper soulmark education to prevent a persistent rape culture around soulmarks: that a person baring a name did not equal consent. Even so, it was a slow process, and in the mean time the wider public still believed that it was next to impossible for someone with two marks- or a mark of another person besides their partner- to be completely faithful. It was a sad reality that some had speculated actually increased cheating of partners who assumed their partner was cheating, led to more divorces and child abandonment of children not born of a truemate etc etc. Which was all very well and good for the academics and radicals to speculate about, but in the mean time the people being affected by these opinions-

_“-late again, probably slept at some strangers house-“_

_“-shouldn’t allow people like that in the school! It’s a bad influence on the younger students-“_

_“-all covered up, wonder how many marks he’s got? 1,000? Ew, what if I’m on there-“_

_“-not even that cute. I might not mind if he was at least hot-“_

“Semiiiiiii!” Tendou crashed into him, distracting Semi gratefully from all the hurtful comments being sneered around him. They weren’t even keeping their voices down- rude asses.

“Get off me.” Grumbled Semi shrugging off the arm that had been thrown around him. He honestly didn’t know if he liked physical affection or not. Maybe he once had and couldn’t remember. There’d never been an abundance of it in any event, and after he turned 13 and the names started appearing he started getting jumpy about people touching him. Both because of possible hidden motives of that person, or how it would be perceived from the outside.

“So grumpy. But man I feel you. Can’t wait till we graduate and we can have classes at a least sane hour of the day.” Tendou bemoaned, taking the rejection with practiced ease. They never seemed to mind all the gossip that surrounded Semi or what people said about the two of them hanging out. Semi was grateful for a friend like them.

“Did you eat breakfast?” asked Tendou fishing in their bag, “My mom made a bunch of extra onigiri, you want some?”

“That’d be great.” Semi said putting aside his grumpiness for the time being to gratefully accept the gift.

“I don’t know how you always forget to eat, you’re literally hungry all the time.” Tendou said poking his side, “you’re already so skinny, one of these days a big wind is going to blow you away.”

“Just works out that way I guess.” Semi shrugged munching the food. Around about the time he got his 11th name breakfasts and packed lunches and hot dinners had slowly given way to a bit of money left on the table for him. Which was fine, better than sitting with his family these days, but Semi often chose extra sleep over getting up early enough to go hunt down some food.

“You need to take better care of your health Eita. It is important to watch your calorie intake to keep up you fitness.” Ushijima stated as he joined them, dutifully carrying an extra packed lunch for Semi that was sure to be packed full of protein. He’d started during their first year when he noticed that Semi never had a lunch and the tradition had kept up all through High School.

“Thank you.” Semi said flushing as always as he accepted the gift. Ushijima nodded in acknowledgment and Tendou watched Semi for a moment before throwing an arm around him again and prattling on about whatever anime they’d watched the previous night. Ushijima responded by pointing out the flaws in the logic of the plot that they were explaining and Semi found himself snorting at his odd friends antics. He shrugged Tendou’s arm off him again and entered the school flanked by his friends.

No one dared bother him while he was with the Ace and the Guess Monster of Shiratorizawa. They even kept their whispering under control. Semi was always grateful for his friends unwavering support; they were what made school bearable.

After school and practice though it was time to go home and he silently mourned the loss of both their comfort and security. He sat in the locker room while the team packed up and stared blankly at the wall as his hair dried.

He didn’t want to go to his house. It would be empty. Silent. Semi didn’t want to be alone with his thoughts.

‘ _Oh heavens, I always knew you were low maintenance Eita,’_ His mother had laughed when he’d nervously gone to her wondering what was wrong when he’d gotten his 4th name at 13, ‘ _This just means that your core personality needs are pretty general and common. It means you don’t require a whole lot to be happy and so it’s pretty easy to find someone to fulfill such a low minimum.’_

She’d said it like a good thing. Semi had learned better after a while: not _needing_ much meant that people didn’t give much… meant that he was seen by others as easily exploitable. As the number of names he had grew his mother’s smile had grown increasingly strained and she’d stopped looking at him in the eye. She’d made him go to therapy, as if this was the kind of thing that could just be willed away with a change in attitude.

Things came to a head when he was almost 15 and he got the name of one of their neighbors. A very nice young man fresh out of college who just moved in with his truemate. Semi got the girl’s name too barely a week later.

‘ _You are a shame on our family.’_ His father had said with disgust. It was one of the last things he’d said to him.

‘ _I don’t want to be with him! I swear! I don’t want to be with any of them! I don’t know why their names keep coming, I can’t help it!’_ Semi had tried to plead. Well actually he’d yelled. He might personally be low maintenance in terms of what he required from others, but that was not a two way street, so while he could put up with pretty much anyone almost no one could put up with him. ‘Too salty’ was the reason people often gave.

‘ _Of course you want to be with your soulmate. The name appearing on your skin is proof of that.’_ His mother had told him shaking her head, disappointment etched into her features, ‘ _I held my mouth before but this one has a truemate though and he’s and adult Eita, some things are just not appropriate for you to want.’_

_‘I know that! I don’t want to be with him!’_ Semi had repeated over and over, but it fell on deaf ears. His parents had formed a picture of him and nothing he said seemed to budge it. His father thought he was a lusty abomination and ordered him to start covering his marks: no need to ruin other people’s happiness. His mother thought that they’d failed him in some essential way that he must be desperate enough that he had no standards.

Knowing that even his parents thought this of him had made Semi miserable. They’d never been particularly close, but they’d still been _there._ He’d been afraid they’d throw him out. Instead they just started to pretend he didn’t exist. It’d hurt at first, but almost 3 years later he’d gotten used to it and somewhat enjoyed the freedom of having nobody care if he failed or succeeded. The lifting of both expectations and pressure.

Semi never really had been particularly popular at school. He was mildly socially oblivious and extremely awkward with people he didn’t know very well. That on top of the names crisscrossing his skin pretty much insured that he’d be an outcast. At least in middle school it had. High School, by some divine miracle, was a different story.

He’d just hit his growth spurt and was sitting on the corner of the roof hunched over- not quite used to the length of his limbs yet or what to do with them- when he’d been approached by Ushijima.

“You were a setter in middle school.” He’d said by way of introduction.

“Um, yes.” Semi had taken up volleyball his first year of middle school. He’d stayed on the team after he started getting soulmarks out of pure effort and painfully acquired skill leagues above the rest of his team. People whispered that the only reason he was on the team as the main setter was that he was banging to coach. But he won them their games and so people didn’t complain too loudly.

“You’re also tall.” The other boy had stated.

“I guess.” Semi blinked owlishly at the other.

“I watched one of you games last season. Your team was moderate at best, but you are good. Not as good as Oikawa, but still quite decent and you have an odd style.” Ushijima had informed him. Later he would learn that this was very high praise.

“Um, thanks?” he hadn’t been sure why Ushijima was talking to him; unlike Semi, Ushijima was quite popular at the school already despite the year having just started… And if he’d seen his games he would know about his soulmarks (volleyball uniforms weren’t good for hiding such things).

“You should join the volleyball team. I will be the ace and I need a setter that can properly serve to me. The current one is too proud to listen to reason just because I am a first year.” Ushijima hadn’t left him in the dark for long. Swift, blunt, and cutting straight to the point. Just like Semi would later learn his spikes would be.

“You… you want _me_ to be…” Semi had barely believed it.

“My setter, yes.” Ushijima had agreed. He’d seemed like a god in that moment. Only a first year but already he was so tall and well muscled, his features sharp and firm, his skin nice and his eyes bafflingly honest yet no less determined. He’d meant it. He wanted Semi.

Semi had fallen a little bit in love at that moment.

The team at Shiratorizawa became a little bit like a family for Semi. Ushijima approved of him, he was decently talented, and seemed to be all that mattered to them. Semi quickly realized that they were all their own brand of misfits. It became a source of pride that together they could be strong enough to make the people who whispered behind their backs bite their tongues…

“Eita.” Semi jumped glancing up. While he had been spacing out the locker room had emptied out around him till it was just Semi and Ushijima.

“Sorry.” He muttered toweling off his black tipped hair and packing away his things properly.

“You should come over to my house.” Ushijima told him, “My mother will be pleased if you come, and you can set balls to me after we finished our homework.”

“I…” Semi could his face reddening. Going to spend time at Ushijima’s warm loving home instead of returning to the silent indifference of his house… it sounded beyond wonderful, “Okay.”

They spent the walk over to Ushijima’s in amiable silence. Not awkward just a strange silent sense of togetherness.

Ushijima’s mother was the tallest woman Semi had ever met. She had sharp, strong features, was super fit and could probably break a mans skull with her legs alone… She was also the biggest sweetheart Semi had ever met.

“Eita!” she beamed when she saw him and gathered him up into her arms in a great bear hug that lifted Semi right off the floor. She always acted as if seeing Semi was the most delightful part of her day. And since she shared Ushijima’s absolute inability to lie, Semi believed her.

He also had no idea what to do with a person who liked him so much.

“Wakatoshi, go take you friend’s bag up to your room.” She told her son quickly handing said object to him and a quick hug of greeting.

“Yes mom.” Ushijima said dutifully doing so. Tendou always teased the tall boy that he was a mama’s boy. Semi didn’t see why that was a bad thing; if he had a mom like Ushijima, he’d be a mama’s boy too.

“Eita dear, its boiling. For heavens sake take off that jacket.” The tall woman said rounding back on him.

“Oh, no… really I-“ Semi said his blood feeling icy cold.

“I insist. I won’t have you passing out from heat stroke under my watch.” She said firmly. And what could Semi do but nervously obey under such a commanding presence?

“There. Much better now, isn’t it?” she said smiling and hanging up his coat, “Wow! I think there’s even more names then last time!”

“I…” Semi tried not to look like he was hiding his arms behind his back.

“You are such a wonderful boy, that you can love so many people.” She smiled at him fondly.

“I am not with any of them.” Semi blurted, “Really, they just keep coming-“

“Shhh-“ She said laying a finger over his lips, “I didn’t think you were. Wakatoshi says you’re very shy but a good friend. Honestly I can’t picture you taking up with so many people. Not that it would lower your worth or my affection for you even if you did. And anyway, I trust my son’s judgment; he likes you and he’s never been wrong yet about a person.”

“…I am not shy.” Semi said at last. He really really didn’t know how to handle people who were so nice.

“Quite then.” She amended.

“I am not really that quite either.” He said thinking of all the bickering and banter he and Tendou got into.

“Well then, in that case I expect to hear a lot from you today at dinner. Come, you’re far too skinny for a boy your age who’s active in sports. What do your parents feed you, honestly?” she chatted away leading him into the kitchen where Ushijima was already chopping meat for dinner. Ushijima’s father was not present. Whether he was dead or divorced or just worked oversees Semi didn’t know. The family never volunteered information and he never asked. Still, they were the most warm and complete feeling family he’d ever encountered.

The meal was wonderful as it always was in this household. Semi swore Ushijima’s mom was trying to stuff him till he puked, she just kept heaping food onto his plate and chatting away. Afterwards he and Ushijima finished up their homework and played volleyball outside for a bit. When they came inside Ushijima gave him a pair of sleep clothes the family always kept for him and his designated spare toothbrush.

Semi sat clenched and unclenched his fingers in the covers of the bed. He stared at the overlapping soulmarks on his legs and arms. There were so many in some spots that you couldn’t even read the characters anymore. Just blots on his skin. But Ushijima didn’t care about the marks on his skin. His mom was so nice and she didn’t care either. Just loved him unconditionally even though he wasn’t even her kid.

That's all he’d ever really wanted.

He didn’t feel like something shameful in this house. He just felt like… a high school volleyball player. It was a wonderful feeling. And he was good. Good enough to stand by Ushijima. Good enough that Ushijima had picked him out of all the others at the school. He knew he wasn’t the Ace’s first choice. He knew Oikawa was always the one Ushijima would have preferred and he was just the second best thing. But he was still the setter for the best volleyball team in the region and that… that had to mean he wasn’t a waste of space at least.

Semi wondered if maybe somewhere in the mess of names on his skin was ‘Ushijima Wakatoshi’…

He made up his mind.

“Eita, what time do you want to wake up?” Ushijima asked wandering in, “My mother wants to know so she can make breakfast.”

Too tall, Semi realized with dismay.

“I… doesn’t matter. Whenever you are. Can you come over here for a second?” Semi asked nervously.

“Are you well Eita? You are very pale.” Ushijima frowned and ambled over and sat down next to him. Semi knew he was right; he was terrified. But he wanted… he _wanted…_

Semi leaned over and clumsily planted a kiss on his Ace’s mouth and the pulled back nervously to gauge the other’s reaction. For his part, Ushijima just frowned and looked a bit perplexed.

“Why did you do that?” he asked, a kind of innocent bewilderment in his voice.

“…wanted to.” Semi admitted swallowing. What was the other boy thinking? Did he like it? Was he repulsed?

“Ah, were you perhaps trying to instigate a physical encounter with me?” Ushijima tried looking very troubled at the idea.

“No!” exclaimed Semi blushing, he really… he still didn’t know quite what all he thought about _those_ things. All he knew was that he liked Ushijima and this was what you were supposed to do when you liked someone.

At least according to what he’d read.

“Then… you are wanting a physical relationship with me?” Ushijima reasoned frowning as if this was a troubling thought.

“Doesn’t have to be physical.” Semi said quickly, because in fact he might prefer- “Just… maybe, a relationship?”

“We have a relationship.” Ushijima stated in confusion, “You’re my setter.”

“Well yes, but-“

“Why do you want to change that?” asked Ushijima looking a little lost, “Is something about that arrangement unsuitable for you?”

“Nononono, I _like_ being your setter. I really _really_ like being your setter. I just… wanted to know if maybe you might want more with me…” the last part came out mumbled.

Ushijima fixed him with a look that was as telling as stone.

“I see.” He said at last.

“So….” Semi began a little hopefully.

“I think we should keep things as they are now. Our relationship is good right now. And you should not have anything distracting you from volleyball: your tosses have lost some of their speed lately.” Ushijima said standing up and continuing getting ready for bed as if nothing had happened, “I am going to tell my mother we’ll get up at 6, is that alright with you?”

“Yeah.” And if Semi’s voice cracked Ushijima was gracious enough not to mention it. The other boy left the room and Semi mechanically went to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

He just ended up staring into the mirror.

For all his soulmarks, the one person who had never really cared to judge him for it turned out really just… didn’t care in general. Didn’t care about Semi. Just a setter to him. And not even the setter he wanted.

But that was okay because Semi could still at least be his setter. He’d do his best. It’d be okay. Ushijima wanted things to stay the same and that was okay because things right now were still pretty good.

It’d be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> I live for the ‘band-of-misfits-become-like-family’ trope. Yes this is a SemiTen story, but Ushijima is an important part of both their stories…. And I also just love that poor awkward baby.
> 
> This story is different because Semi is our first who’s been really ostracized by his soulmark. Kenma got a little because he refused to show anyone so they all assumed it was someone scandalous, but not nearly on the same degree as Semi. He is essentially the opposite of Iwa: he has everyone’s names but no one has his name.
> 
> I kind of tried to shape attitudes about multiple soulmarks similar to people’s reactions to bisexuality or being polysexual: both such persons are perfectly capable of being in a committed relationship, but that doesn’t stop the cruel things people like to say. Anyway, if you caught that, kudos to you ☺


End file.
